A schoolgirl has been praised after she used a simple trick to trap an internet hacker who stole her father's credit card details.

Danielle Athi, 15, from Nottingham, used a star-sign quiz to get details from the thief, who she met in an internet chatroom.

The 18-year-old hacker, known as Gafferboy but whose real name is Andrew Edgar of Moffat near Dumfries in Scotland, has been sentenced to 100 hours of community service for using stolen credit card details.

Danielle's father Ravi Athi said: "He took more than a grand from my credit card.

Trojan Horse

"We are glad that he has been caught and dealt with."

Edgar hacked into the Athi family's computer three years ago and used a "Trojan horse" virus enclosed in a file to obtain financial information stored on it.

Police had been chasing Edgar and informed Mr Athi that he had stolen the information under the alias Gafferboy.

Danielle went in search of him and finally found the hacker in a chatroom.

When she asked him some star-sign questions in a quiz, he revealed his name, address and even his mobile phone number.

Police tracked him down and he was charged with illegally using credit card numbers.